Wednesday, 9 July 2008

Musings

There has been a recent shift in emphasis on the blog away from book reviews and towards computer game, TV and movie coverage. I would like to confirm at this point that the book reviews are here to stay and in fact there's a solid thirteen books sitting on the shelf, waiting to be read, along with a good few dozen more that are waiting to be re-read and reviewed.

However, the recent shift has come about for several reasons. First off, I mostly read on the way to and from work, or during breaks at work. Since I am currently unemployed, this has cut down my reading time. Secondly, since starting the blog I've been constantly reading at a fast pace, and this has led to a feeling of burn-out. I'm taking advantage of this period of unemployment to catch up instead on games and DVDs, hence the shift in emphasis over the last few weeks. Normal service will be resumed hopefully soon enough. A third reason is that I've had some positive feedback on the blog being aimed at the genre, rather than the medium, and its embracing of books, film, television and games rather than just SF&F literature by itself. I've also had requests for more frequent updates, which has necessitated having more things to review.

Forthcoming Reviews:

Books: I am currently reading a hilarious non-fiction critical guide to the films of Steven Seagal, which may be one of the funniest things I've ever read. That is forthcoming in a few days. I am also very slowly ploughing through an electronic ARC of Return of the Crimson Guard which is not easy on the eyes. I'm hoping to finish this before the mass edition comes out next month. I've also picked up the first two books in Greg Keyes' Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone series. I promised myself I'd read this series once it was finished, and with the recent publication of The Born Queen I can now fulfil that promise. On the ARC front, Melinda Snodgrass' The Edge of Reason and Greg Bear's City at the End of Time are forthcoming.

DVDs: Expect reviews of Ghost in the Shell II: Innocence, the complete series of Babylon 5, the continuation of my much-delayed Deep Space Nine reviews and two entertaining (but for very different reasons) low-profile movies I saw recently, namely The Last Legion and Pathfinder.

TV: Most TV shows are on hiatus for now, with nothing of major interest until Heroes returns in September. Once exception is Avatar, which completes its third and final season later this month, and I shall be covering that at the time.Games:Command and Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath and the classic strategy game Ground Control are the next games up for review. Before all of that, however, I'll be tackling the new edition of Dungeons and Dragons which, given the online debate that's erupted about it, should be interesting to say the least.